These pages are devoted
to postcards of the Royal Cruise Line. An alphabetical list of ships covered on this page is shown
below. The
Table below this
gives links to complete postcard history pages on selected individual
ships. Below the table are postcards
of the fleet in
chronological order.

Royal Cruise Line was
formed in the early 1970s. Their first ship, the Golden Odyssey, was the first purpose-built Greek
cruise ship, and she entered service in 1974. A second ship,
the Royal
Odyssey, was
added to the fleet in 1982. The line developed a loyal following,
and had a very high reputation. They ordered two new ships, of
which the Crown
Odyssey was
delivered in 1988 (the second ship was not built). Royal Odyssey was sold in the same year as the
arrival of the new ship, although postcards showing the fleet
with all three were issued. The line was acquired by Norwegian Caribbean Line (Kloster) just one year later
in 1989. NCL was in a period of rapid expansion
at the time. Within two years, Norwegian Caribbean was in financial difficulties, and began selling
off various assets. Royal Cruise Line initially retained its
separate identity, but Golden
Odyssey was
sold in 1994, and Crown
Odyssey became
part of the NCL fleet as Norwegian Crown
in 1996. NCL had managed to lose the excellent
reputation of Royal Cruise Line, which was no longer worth maintaining
as a single ship operation. In the late 1990s however, NCL acquired the new Orient Lines, and Norwegian Crown was transferred to
that line, regaining her original name Crown Odyssey in the process. In November 2002, it was announced
that Crown
Odyssey would
return to the NCL fleet in September 2003.

Royal Cruise Line was
founded with the Golden Odyssey, built in Denmark in 1974.
She was only 6757 grt, and carried just 460 passengers. She initially
operated in the Greek islands and on America's west coast, but
later cruised worldwide, as Royal Cruise Line created an excellent
reputation, winning numerous awards. She was acquired, with the
Royal Cruise Line name, by NCL in 1989, but was sold by them
in 1994, subsequently serving as Astra II for various
German cruise operators. In 2001 she is named Omar 2.

Official
Royal Cruise Line postcard of the Golden Odyssey.

Official
Royal Cruise Line postcard of the Golden Odyssey.

Official
Royal Cruise Line postcard of the Golden Odyssey.

Official
Royal Cruise Line postcard of the Golden Odyssey.

Official
Royal Cruise Line postcard of the Golden Odyssey.

Official
Royal Cruise Line postcard of the Golden Odyssey.

Official
Royal Cruise Line postcard of the Golden Odyssey.

An official
Royal Cruise Line fleet postcard (oversized) of the Royal
Odyssey and Golden Odyssey.

An official
Royal Cruise Line fleet postcard (oversized) of the Royal
Odyssey (2), Golden Odyssey and Crown Odyssey. This
card must have been issued in 1993-94.

An official
Royal Cruise Line fleet postcard (oversized) of the Crown
Odyssey and Golden Odyssey.

Royal Odyssey (1) (1981-1988)

The Zim Israel liner Shalom was built in 1964. After only
three years, she was bought by the Deutsche Atlantik group in 1967 and renamed Hanseatic
(2). She was
sold again to Home
Lines in 1973,
and named Doric (Home Lines needed to find a replacement
for the fire-damaged Homeric (1)). She served with
Home Lines until the new Atlantic was delivered in 1981, when she
was sold to Royal Cruise Lines as their Royal Odyssey. She was given a new single funnel
during refurbishment. In 1988 she became the Regent
Sun in the
Regency
Cruises fleet.
She has been inactive since the Regency Cruises bankruptcy, despite an announced sale to Royal
Venture cruises as their Sun Venture. Current name is
listed just as Sun, with owners Canyon Ranch. She is currently
stripped and out of service, having been intended for use as
a floating hotel.

Crown Odyssey was built by Meyer of Papenburg,
and was delivered to Royal Cruise Line in 1988, a year before
the line was sold to NCL. In 1996 the various NCL fleets
were reorganised, and Crown Odyssey became the Norwegian
Crown in the main NCL fleet. More recently , she has
been transferred to NCL-owned Orient
Lines, and reverted
to her original name Crown Odyssey. Crown Odyssey returned
to the NCL fleet in September 2003 as Norwegian
Crown. In 2006 she was sold to Fred.Olsen as the Balmoral, remaining on charter to NCL until
2007.

An official
Royal Cruise Line fleet postcard (oversized) of the Royal
Odyssey (2), Golden Odyssey and Crown Odyssey.

This
card must have been issued in 1993-94.

Official
Royal Cruise Line fleet postcard of the Crown Odyssey
and Golden Odyssey.

Simplon
Postcards sc2009 (released March 1992) of Crown Odyssey.

Photographed
by Wil Moojen at Ijmuiden, 14/8/91.

CT Postcards
029 (released 1993) of Crown Odyssey.

Photographed
by Nils Wegener at Copenhagen in 1989.

Chantry
Classics CC/S109 of Crown Odyssey.

Photographed
by Clive Harvey on the Thames.

Royal Odyssey (2) (1990-1996)

Royal Odyssey originally built as the Royal Viking Line cruise ship Royal Viking Sea
in 1973. Royal
Viking Line were
acquired by Kloster (NCL) in 1984, and initially retained
their separate identity. Royal Viking Sea was transferred
to Royal Cruise Line in 1990 as the Royal Odyssey (2).
The Royal
Viking Line name
was sold to Cunard in 1994. Royal Odyssey
was transferred into the main NCL fleet in 1996 as Norwegian
Star. She briefly operated for the NCL
subsidiary Norwegian Capricorn Line in the Australian market,
and in 2001 is part of the Star
Cruises fleet.